The Perfect Playlist: How Your iPod Can Help You Run Faster and Harder

Sometimes you need an extra push to hit the pavement or treadmill — or to make it through that last grueling mile of training — and the key may simply be loading right songs on your iPod, according to Dr. Costas Karageorghis, author of Inside Sport Psychology and a leading expert on the psychophysical and ergogenic effects of music at Brunel University, in London.

Music has specific motivational qualities that can make you work harder and faster, even when you feel spent. “Music has the propensity to elevate positive aspects of mood such as vigor and excitement, and reduces negative aspects such as tension and fatigue,” says Karageorghis, who has created custom workout soundtracks for several U.S. athletes competing in the London Olympics. “It reduces perceived effort, and training to a musical beat can enhance endurance.”

Whether you’re a casual runner or training for a distance event (if the latter, first check out our tips on training from last week), the right playlist can optimize your performance. Here are Karageorghis’ guidelines for putting together a runner’s mix that will get you across the finish line:

Select tracks with energizing beats
Synchronizing your strides with an upbeat song can subconsciously increase your effort during a workout. In a 2009 study, Karageorghis and his colleagues found that matching training with music significantly boosted exercise efficiency and endurance. For the study, the researchers compared 30 participants working out on a treadmill — some listened to high-energy rock and pop tunes and some did not. Compared with those who worked out in silence, those who synchronized their pace to the songs’ tempo improved their endurance by 15%.

Jamming to rhythmic songs also lowers your perceived effort, making you think you’re not working as hard as you really are. Upbeat music increases activity in a part of the brain called the ascending reticular activating system, which “psyches” you up when you’re running.

“The optimal tempo range is 120 to 140 beats per minute,” says Karageorghis. “Our research shows this yields the best psychological outcomes.”

By looking up the beats per minute (bpm) of your go-to songs, you can also find the tempo that matches the heart rate you want to achieve during your workout. For example, if you want your heart rate to get to 130 bpm, choose a song whose tempo progressively increases to that beat, Karageorghis says.

Stick with what you know
A song’s cultural impact is a key factor in what makes it motivational. “There’s a strong relationship between exposure to a song and you liking it,” says Karageorghis. We tend to favor songs the more often we hear them, so pick a song that’s already in your music library.

Adding songs you associate with moments of perseverance, either from movies or your personal life, can also give you an extra edge. The “Chariots of Fire [theme song] has been used extensively at the London Olympic games,” says Karageorghis. “We’ve made an association with this song and characters doing heroic feats. When you hear it, it conjures images and thoughts of overcoming adversity and striving towards a goal. So you’re conditioned to feel stimulated, inspired and motivated.”

One of TIME’s own staffers, photo editor Liz Ronk, who is training for a half-marathon in October, says this strategy has already worked for her: “Sometimes I hear songs that are played at races that I would normally never listen to, and I’ll download them specifically for my runs just because the song will remind me of that energy.”

Don’t forget to hit shuffle
If you’ve had your playlist on repeat for the last two weeks, you may be desensitized to the songs’ motivational qualities. “This is why radio stations promote songs by playing them repeatedly, but then play it less and less, so listeners don’t develop a negative response to it,” says Karageorghis. “Change your playlist at least every couple of weeks so you don’t listen to the same track over and over.”

Try digitally altering your music to boost motivation
To create playlists for professional athletes, includingGreat Britain‘s track and field captain, Dai Greene, Karageorghis films them working out at different intensities in order to identify tracks from their music libraries that fit their workouts. Then he tweaks the music to get them working ven harder. “Often I digitally adjust tracks to give a little push of one or two beats per minute,” says Karageorghis. “Differences in tempo of up to four beats per minute are indiscernible to non-musicians. You can easily manipulate your favorite tracks slightly. It’s a particularly good ploy if you want to give yourself a little jolt or get out of a training slump.”

Be choosy about lyrics
“Lyrics can be extremely important, particularly if they carry meaning for the athlete,” says Karageorghis. “You will notice a lot of athletes like your own Michael Phelps use music as an integral part of their pre-event routine. He’s famed for his rap-centric playlist. In Beijing, he listened to the song “I’m Me” by Lil’ Wayne which has strong affirming lyrics as well as being acoustically stimulative.”

Find songs with inspiring lyrics that convey what you want to achieve, like “Pump It” by Black Eyed Peas or “Lose Yourself” by Eminem.

If you’re still unsure where to start, below are sample playlists from Karageorghis and from our three TIME staffers who are training for half-marathons in October (stay tuned for ongoing updates about the training this summer):

Dr. Costas Karageorghis:

“Eye Of The Tiger” (109 BPM), Surivior

“Don’t Stop Me Now” (154 BPM), Queen

“Beat It” (139 BPM), Michael Jackson

“I Like To Move It” (123 BPM), Reel 2 Real feat. The Mad Stuntman

“Push It” (130 BPM), Salt-N-Pepa

Bryan Walsh, TIME International Senior Editor and Healthland contributor:

I don't do Apple, either. I do my workout with a years-old mp3 player. Your Droid should work fine. Or if you don't want to risk that working out, pick up a cheap, no name mp3 player. You don't need to store 16 GB of music for a workout...

News flash for people who don't know jack about anatomy: Mankind is NOT made for running. We've evolved for walking long distance and sprinting for comparatively short periods.

How many "runner injuries" are there? Twenty? Fifty? Too many to count? It's because constant, long-distance running (or jogging, if you will) is not an activity mankind ever did while he was evolving. And our upright postures take a pounding when we jog. The up and down action of a jog - the jarring actions of foot on ground - stress the skeletal system including ligaments, and severely overstress the muscular system. It taxes the digestive system and the cardiovascular system unnaturally.

EVERYONE can sprint (a much less jarring gait) or at least walk. That's how we evolved: Sprinting to catch game or avoid becoming something's dinner. The rest of the time, we walked. There was no point or reason to run long distances (hard to do on uneven ground and even ground doesn't usully last that long out in the wild. Our bodies have evolved to favor a smooth gait and not the punishing kind of thing long-distance running does to it.

Given this under-reported fact about our anatomy, this article basically amounts to advice on how to best destroy your body to music.

thank-you fatesrider. Unlike most ignorant folks out there, I adjust my lifestyle in accordance with the unsubstantiated claims of anonymous commenters at the bottom of human interest stories on the internet. Thanks for educating me about what's best for "mankind."

The latest theories are just the opposite. They are that early man would would often wound prey and would spend hours running/jogging after it until the wound finally caused the prey to stop so the killing stroke could be delivered. Just as the African Bushmen do today.

Actually, if you're doing a morning walk (which doesn't need to have something to inspire a good running pace), a better solution is to listen to podcasts. That's why I listen to the TWiT Network technology podcasts--long and informative, so it allows me to pass the time when doing morning walks.

The power of the beat has been clear to me for so long that I used to play cassette tapes on a variable speed (analog) tape recorder so I could adjust the dial to just the right beat for my feet as I ran. But since everything has gone digital, I find there's no iphone app that will let me do the same thing (one called something like the slow-downer makes you hand-load in every song.) All I want is to be able to adjust my beat speed the same way I do my volume, easily, as I run. Anybody? I promise to spread word to all my friends if you can help me!!

I found a service called Rock My Run that lets you download pre mixed playlist based on BPM, they have themes (4th of July, Country, 80's, explicit, not explicit, Pop etc) and different duration30, 60, Min etc,..) I hate trying to put together play lists so not only do I use them for Exercise I used it for work when I have a lot of computer time ahead of me....

Lame choice of music for a workout TIME.. How about some Damp;B, Psych Trance, Big Beat and Happy Hardcore? Personally I think the best workout music is the one that puts you in a trance. This is what I listen to for a workout, for the past 16 years:

Mampi Swift - Trippin (Dillinja Remix) /watch?v=xd2srfie8Go

Corrupt Souls - Dropzone /watch?v=jhSRNuOKKz0

Infected Mushroom - Frog Machine /watch?v=y7S8Rt-5wSc

Utah Saints - Believe in Me /watch?v=Gn3fc0S5zQ8

Scooter - Devil Drums /watch?v=isoK1AmTAek

The Prodigy - Take me to the Hospital /watch?v=nYyF-62G0UY

Enjoy!

Okay last one, since it's the Olympics and Coppola is such a talented athlete..